


What If Today Was All That We Had?

by luverofralts



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 13:39:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5165864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luverofralts/pseuds/luverofralts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A repost from ff.net from 2004</p>
<p>Dib goes through the motions of his normal day, wondering just how to tell his favourite invader how he feels. A quick poetic drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What If Today Was All That We Had?

**Author's Note:**

> This was kind of an experimental thing I tried, and I don't really know how successful I was. The poem in italics is what the story really is about, the background story is supposed to have no point to it, and it really doesn't. Basically I wanted a ZADR poem to go over a background of them going through their normal routine, while Dib tries to deal with whatever he's feeling. The story's not supposed to really co-incide with the poem until the end; it's a contrast of passion and boredom.  
> I still don't own Invader Zim, but I did write both the poem and the story for once, so go me.

Dib sat at his desk, watching the seconds tick away on the classroom clock. It was just another cold and dreary November afternoon, overcast and chilly. He had walked to skool that morning with his trench coat pulled tightly against his skin, trying to cover every exposed piece of him save for his eyes. Gaz had laughed at him- but when wasn't she delighting in his misfortune?

Even Zim was feeling the effects of the change in weather, as he spent every spare minute in class shivering and making weird adjustments to the class thermostat, which had so far gone unnoticed by their clueless teacher.

Zim....

_What if today was my last chance_

_To tell all of my secrets to you_

He watched as Zim trembled in the cold air of their classroom, longing to go over there and wrap his trench coat around him. How stupid would that look: Dib catering to his worst enemy, helping out the one he hated most. The thing was though, he didn't really hate him....

_Would I find the words to say_

_What I wished wasn't true_

His amber eyes flickered back and forth from the ticking clock on the wall to the shivering Irken, trying his best to be inconspicuous about just who and what he was staring at. The seconds ticked by so slowly, as always, making Dib question the condition of their clock. Sitting in this classroom day after day, freezing in the cold November air, made seconds turn into hours, and hours into days. He had spent an entire life time in this classroom already, just watching the clock tick away the time.

Watching his chances fly by.

Zim leaned back in his chair, trying to balance a pencil where his nose should be. This sight made Dib smirk as it always did. How many times had he seen the alien pass the time just like this, ignoring everything around him?

Zim shifted his attention momentarily from his pencil to his arch nemesis, catching Dib off guard. Zim's eyes narrowed, seeing that Dib was watching him, while Dib promptly shifted his focus back to the ever fascinating clock. Daring to look back to his nemesis for a mere second, Dib narrowly dodged the crumpled up ball of paper aimed for his head.

He scowled while the alien smirked behind him.

_What if insanity was what I believed in_

_And through all of life's faults there was you_

Turning around in his seat to once again face the front, he uncrumpled the ball of paper that had landed on his desk. There on the wrinkled paper, in Zim's childish scribble were three simple words: I hate you.

Dib glowered at his enemy, while Zim chuckled relatively silently, congratulating himself on the successful completion of another one of his stupid plans.

While Dib should just have thrown the paper away, he tucked the wrinkled hate note in his coat, vowing to have it sent off for writing analysis. The results may not prove anything other than Zim's hatred of him, but he still had to try. It would be the ultimate irony to expose Zim with one of his own stupid plans.

Because that's what he wanted to do...he wanted to expose...capture...dissect Zim.

_What if I didn't pretend to hate it_

_When I think of love pulling us through_

The clock continued to tick, though it had lost Dib's attention long ago. Had Dib been watching, he would have seen the clock hit three, signalling the end of skool, and sounding the bell that alerted students to their sudden freedom.

Zim stopped his cackling at the sound of the bell as his mind shifted to all of his glorious plans and all that he must concoct in his labs to be ready for the next day.

Dib sighed, free to leave skool only to be enslaved by chasing Zim around, trying vainly to save the world. It was a tireless schedule that Zim put him through, one that left little time for homework and hobbies. One that left little opportunity to try to force a conversation out of his sister. One that he wouldn't give up for all the world.

Grabbing his books, he joined the group of kids piling out of the classroom, keeping a careful eye on Zim.

_What if today could never be recaptured_

_And all opportunities lost_

Zim had already started down the street that would lead to his base when Dib had caught up to him. Narrow hallways and crowds of hurried students made trailing a short alien exceedingly difficult at times. There were times when his life and life's work got down right tiresome.

Zim, however, looked exceedingly pleased with himself, probably plotting some new kind of hideous evil for Dib to thwart. He walked proudly, like he usually did, striding confidently down the street, engrossed in his own thoughts.

He crossed the street with ease, never noticing the truck that swerved towards his enemy as Dib tried to follow him down the street.

_If I were to die tomorrow_

_Would I be able to handle silence's cost?_

Dib leapt out of the way of the truck just in time, eye twitching as his near killer angrily swung his fist in the air towards the scythe haired boy. It was truly a frightening world that he fought to save.

There were often times his frustration with humanity made him long to turn the world over to Zim for destruction. Though as tempting as those times were, he knew that he could never do it, could never succumb to Zim.

Even though deep down he wanted to....

_Would my heart be able to stand rejection_

_I don't think I really can say_

Before Dib could pull himself off the ground, a green arm was there, pulling him roughly to his feet.

" _You_ ," it seethed, a familiar sound that Dib couldn't imagine living without. Zim. "You're following me again."

It was a simple statement, one which Dib wouldn't deny. He was following Zim, just as he did every day. Though...he didn't know if it was his brush with danger, or the chill of the icy November wind, but his heart suddenly felt burdened, as it often did while sitting in class exchanging insults with Zim. Burdened with a feeling; one that refused to go away.

"Zim?"

The boy's eyes glistened as he thought of the words engraved in his mind. The alien turned around impatiently, hands on his slender hips, lips pursed angrily.

"What, foul human creature?" he demanded irritably. "What is so important that you dare _bother_ ZIM!"

Dib's mouth opened tentatively, though when he tried to speak, he released only silent air, no voice.

"I...I..."

Zim glared angrily at him, his face an odd mixture of confusion and irritation over the boy's latest irritation.

Dib took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried to picture the words in his mind. He could do 't he?

"I...I'll see you tomorrow, Space Boy," he sighed lamely, the collective weight of his disappointment in himself crushing his otherwise impenetrable spirit.

He ignored Zim's odd look, the same one Zim had given him yesterday and every other day he had started a sentence he couldn't bring himself to finish.

He turned and walked against the harsh November wind, as his hair blew messily in his eyes, each step taking him a little bit further from Zim. And behind him, the confused but determined Invader, marched onward towards his home, blissfully ignorant of feelings.

_Please God let there be a tomorrow_

_So that I can voice the omissions of today._


End file.
